


Pictures of Bugs, Family, and Other Such Things

by mothmanwhisperer



Category: Beetlejuice: The Musical
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Angst, Bisexual Male Character, Eventual Happy Ending, Family Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Lesbian Character, Lesbian Lydia Deetz, Multi, Romantic Fluff, Trans Beetlejuice, Trans Character, Trans Lydia Deetz
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:40:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25663780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mothmanwhisperer/pseuds/mothmanwhisperer
Summary: After the death of their mother, half siblings Lydia and Lawrence Deetz must learn to get along after five years not talking and more importantly learn how to cope with their loss in a healthy manner as their father wants to move on quicker than they’re prepared to. Moving to a new house in Connecticut and Lawrence’s innate lack of responsibility proves to make things a bit more difficult for them however.
Relationships: Beetlejuice/Adam Maitland/Barbara Maitland
Comments: 6
Kudos: 22





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> First things first; Not Beetleb*bes please god don’t even look at this if you even ship that please Beej and Lydia in this are literally siblings.
> 
> Now that that’s out of the way,, this is a fic I’ve been thinking of writing for awhile now! It’s been a few years since I’ve last really written something but here’s hoping I’m not too awful.  
> Thank you to my friend Mason for putting up with me sending him drafts for this I do really appreciate it ahhH.

Funerals are a sad occasion, everyone knows that, however a funeral attended by a broken family is something more tragic and cold. Words hardly exchanged and wavering glances shared between attendees in quiet remorse as rain trickled from the darkened clouds and a casket was lowered into the ground.

A young girl stared as her mother’s coffin was no longer in sight, her father was quick to turn his head away preferring not to say goodbye once more.

It wasn’t a good day to say the least yet the ride home would manage to be worse.

The teenage girl dressed in black and light blonde hair curled ever so slightly looked to her father in shock, sitting beside him in the black car which had been previously in silence.

“We’re moving.” The father repeated his words quietly and stiffly, not looking at his daughter whose distress at the news was plain to see. 

“We can't just move! She loved that house!” The teen grabbed her father's arm and shook it, in pure disbelief that he’d say such a thing, after her mother’s funeral no less.

Charles never had the best timing nor way of handling his emotions and this only made it clearer.

“I’ve already bought the house, Lydia. It’ll be nice, a good change for us _all_.” He was quickly interrupted by another presence in the vehicle.

“Us _all_?” The older brother of Lydia, a black haired man dressed much nicer than you’d see him otherwise, spoke up for the first time all day.

“You just mean you two _right_?” His eyes widened as he awaited a response, his knee bouncing in anticipation.

“Lawrence…” Charles sighed and looked to his son with a mix of dread and disappointment. 

“I think it would be nice if you came to live with us again. Get a job, go back to college-“

“What? He can’t live with us!” Lydia was quick to refuse the idea in its entirety. Her whole world already felt as though it were collapsing and this had only made it so much worse.

“He shows up for the first time in five years and you’re just going to let him live with us? Just because mom’s gone?”

“She would have wanted this too.” There was obvious discomfort in the father’s voice as he spoke of his late wife.

“What about _me_? What if I don’t want to? I’ve got stuff I have to do! I have a band!” Lawrence raised his voice louder than Lydia had dared.

“I don’t want to go back to college! I’m fine how I am!”

“How you are? Barely getting by? Couch surfing and living off of your so called friends who let you live like this? Just hoping that your band makes it big one day even though you’ve cycled through more band members than you have hair colors? You are coming to live with us in Connecticut and that is that I do not want to hear any more arguing from either of you. We start packing tomorrow.” 

Charles straightened his coat and leaned back in his seat, glad to have ended the conversation as the siblings exchanged silent glares before Lydia decided to rest her eyes on the window, watching the passing cars and buildings, slowly drifting off. 

Lawrence however remained awake, looking at his phone and desperately attempting to distract himself from the scene as long as he could, knowing the next few weeks were going to be hell.


	2. Moving Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A month after the funeral, the Deetz are finally moving to their new house and despite it being quite some time, no one can seem to get along.

It had been nearly a month since the funeral. Tensions hadn’t yet fully eased within the Deetz home but the stress of moving had kept them too busy to have more than the occasional argument.

There was a pounding on the bathroom door that had been going for quite a few minutes now. Lawrence had done his best to ignore it, turning the volume of his music up as loud as his phone's small speaker could muster as he slathered green goo onto his hair with great care, making sure not to miss a spot.

“Open the door! I have to use the bathroom!” The voice of his sister, sounding angrier than usual, yelled from outside the door as she continued to knock.

She rocked back and forth from her heels to her toes getting more frustrated as it had been nearly an hour since he had taken over the bathroom

“Gimme another…” The elder sibling thought for a moment. “I dunno.” He shrugged and continued with his work on his hair, swearing under his breath as dye dropped onto his forehead. 

“I’ll just let you know when I’m out. Use dad's bathroom or something.” 

It had grown quiet for a moment, Lawrence assumed Lydia had done what he said, but that assumption was proved wrong fairly quickly by Lydia’s voice speaking up again.

“I don’t like dad's bathroom. And all my makeup’s in _there_. At least hand my makeup bag to me.” She sighed and crossed her arms, her eyes focused on the door hoping to see it open. 

The door creaked, vivid white light from inside the room shining from inside and the overwhelming smell of hair dye burning her nose and punk rock music pierced her ears.

“Fine, but let me know as soon as you're out cause this-“ Lawrence pointed to his hair, flattened to his skull with the green dye he had coated it in. “Is gonna be a mess if I don’t finish it.” He rolled his eyes and walked out of the bathroom, pushing past Lydia swiftly.

He walked down the hall and into his room as his sister closed the bathroom door behind her.

Lawrence’s bedroom was completely empty except for a box on his old bed. He dragged his feet as he walked over and sat beside the box, opening it to see his beloved pet snake. 

“Hey, I know you hate it in there but hopefully we’ll get outta here and into that new house soon and you can have your big old tank back.” He gently picked up the black and white snake he had affectionately named ‘Sandy’. 

“Promise it’s only temporary _and_ I’ll make sure to give you the best mouse when it’s next feeding time.”

The 25 year old looked around his old room, feeling a wide range of emotions. He had grown up in this house, he hardly realized how much he had missed it over the last five years. 

Sandy wrapped herself comfortably in his hands as he sighed. It felt as though the reality of the move just hit him, and it hit hard. Sitting in his empty childhood room felt so...wrong but he did his best to get over it, instead thinking about the potential bright side of moving, though it was still debatable if there really was one. More specifically the new people he could meet, maybe even find some new band members.

His thoughts were soon interrupted however as a voice spoke from his doorway.

“I’m out, better finish your hair before dad decides to leave you here.” Lydia, stood with crossed arms and rolled her eyes. 

“Yeah, yeah I’ll be downstairs and ready to go in thirty minutes max.” He stood, putting Sandy back in her box and walking over to his little sister, box in his hands.

“Mind taking Sandy down when you go?”

Lydia took the box and shrugged. 

“Did you have to dye your hair now? We’re going to be in the car all day…” She huffed and started down the hallway, Lawrence following close behind after shutting his door. 

“Did you have to put your eyeliner on like that? Are you trying to look like a hungover MySpace star or something?” He laughed at his own rebuttal which appeared to be lost entirely on the 14 year old.

“Forget it.” He shook his head.

They parted ways at the end of the hall as Lydia walked down the stairs and Lawrence entered the bathroom to finish his hair as quickly as he could.

**_~_**

“Lydia tell your brother to hurry up! We need to leave in five!” Charles watched as men from the moving company carried the last of their boxes outside and into a moving van. 

“No- no! You can’t stack those-“ He hastily walked out after them, leaving Lydia to deal with her sibling.

“Lawrence! Dad said to hurry it up! We’re leaving in five minutes!” Her hands fidgeted on the staircase railing as she called up. Her voice echoed through the empty house, it never used to do that. She swayed back and forth in boredom as she waited, the black fabric of her dress twirling slightly at the motion.

There was a brief moment of silence before a pair of combat boots could be heard making their way down the wooden stairs.

“Why don’t you just call me Beej anymore?” Lawrence huffed and straightened his jacket. It was a rather loud piece of clothing, a faux leather jacket covered in gaudy black and white stripes and dotted with various patches and pins, it all made his now bright green hair stand out in a vibrant manner.  
“Lawrence is so boring.”

“You _chose_ Lawrence?” Lydia narrowed her eyes in mild annoyance, realizing she’d have to deal with these sorts of conversations in the car for hours. 

“And I’m not a little kid anymore anyway.” 

“ _Actually_ dad chose it. And what’s that got to do with it? It’s better than Beetle-“ The older of the two was cut off by his sister hitting him in the arm. “Ow..”

“Shut up. Let’s just go before dad yells at us to hurry.” She started towards the door, giving the house’s interior one more saddened look. 

“I’m gonna miss it here…” She spoke under her breath, followed by a sigh, turning her back on the home one last time and walking to the car with her head hung and hands gripping her bag.

Lawrence watched with a heavy frown across his usually carefree face. Though he’d likely not admit it, seeing his sister so upset struck a chord with him, not that it was a rare scene lately but nonetheless. 

He ran his hand down his face as he walked down the last couple of steps. 

Giving one last look around the now empty old house, he gave an awkward nod and continued out the door.

“I call shotgun!” His expression switched back to its usual smirk as he walked towards the car, Lydia already opening the passenger side door.

“Too bad.” She closed the door behind her as she slid into the front seat and slouched down, her large bag sat in her lap, pulling out a pair of headphones and putting them over her ears.Ignoring Lawrence as he mocked her whilst he got in the back seat.

“And I thought I was moody.” He crossed his arms, slouching just as much if not more so than Lydia. His aggravation was soon calmed as he noticed Sandy’s box next to him, getting his mind off of everything else relatively easily.

“Ready to go you two?” The drivers side door closed as Charles got into the car, putting the keys in and adjusting his seat.

Both siblings gave an unenthusiastic ‘sure’ in response to their fathers question. 

“On to our new lives it is then!” The car started, driving them away from what was once their home, a ‘sold’ sign staked in the front yard, leaning ever so slightly forward.


End file.
